Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on June 16, 2015

“It’s a paradox of success that when it comes one often begins to wish it had taken some other form. I was more than happy to borrow the shoes of Chaney and Lugosi and Karloff and Rathbone and Veidt… At the same time, I didn’t want the shoes to wear...   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on June 10, 2015

(1978) Directed by Jeannot Szwarc; Written by: Carl Gottlieb and Howard Sackler; Starring: Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton and Jeffrey Kramer; Available on DVD. Rating: **½ “I kept saying from the beginning, we must show the shark a lot. Because that image of t   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on June 10, 2015

(1978) Directed by Jeannot Szwarc; Written by: Carl Gottlieb and Howard Sackler; Starring: Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton and Jeffrey Kramer; Available on DVD. Rating: **½ “I kept saying from the beginning, we must show the shark a lot. Because that image of t   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on May 21, 2015

(1962) Directed by Herk Harvey; Written by: John Clifford; Starring: Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Sidney Berger and Herk Harvey; Available on DVD. Rating: ***½ “We used black and white film and we were naïve enough to hope for the look of a Bergman film and the feel of   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on May 21, 2015

(1962) Directed by Herk Harvey; Written by: John Clifford; Starring: Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Sidney Berger and Herk Harvey; Available on DVD. Rating: ***½ “We used black and white film and we were naïve enough to hope for the look of a Bergman film and the feel of   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on May 11, 2015

(1951) Directed by: John Huston; Written by James Agee and John Huston; Based on the novel The African Queen by C.S. Forester; Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley, Peter Bull and Theodore Bikel Available on Blu-ray and DVD Rating: ***** “He may have no commo   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on May 11, 2015

(1951) Directed by: John Huston; Written by James Agee and John Huston; Based on the novel The African Queen by C.S. Forester; Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley, Peter Bull and Theodore Bikel Available on Blu-ray and DVD Rating: ***** “He may have   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on May 7, 2015

Return to the 36th Chamber (1980) The sequel to The 36th Chamber of Shaolin wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but in this case, it’s a good thing. Instead of continuing the story of San Te and his goal to bring the art of Shaolin Kung Fu to the common...   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on May 7, 2015

Return to the 36th Chamber (1980) The sequel to The 36th Chamber of Shaolin wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but in this case, it’s a good thing. Instead of continuing the story of San Te and his goal to bring the art of Shaolin Kung Fu to the common...   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on April 30, 2015

I don’t usually step outside my comfort zone, preferring to keep my personal, online and professional lives compartmentalized into neat little boxes. But life is rarely neat. It has a habit of sneaking up on you, whether you think you’re prepared or not. After a long bout of illness, inc   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on April 30, 2015

I don’t usually step outside my comfort zone, preferring to keep my personal, online and professional lives compartmentalized into neat little boxes. But life is rarely neat. It has a habit of sneaking up on you, whether you think you’re prepared or not. After a long bout of illness, inc   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on April 15, 2015

(1975) Directed by Hua Shan; Written by: Ni Kuang; Starring: Danny Lee, Wang Hsia, Terry Liu; Available on DVD. Rating: ***½ “Shaw Bros, at the time wanted to film a Kamen Rider type of film for the Hong Kong children. …Although I had watched a few episodes of Kamen Ri   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on April 15, 2015

(1975) Directed by Hua Shan; Written by: Ni Kuang; Starring: Danny Lee, Wang Hsia, Terry Liu; Available on DVD. Rating: ***½ “Shaw Bros, at the time wanted to film a Kamen Rider type of film for the Hong Kong children. …Although I had watched a few episodes of Kamen Ri   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on April 9, 2015

(2004) Directed by Stephen Chow; Written by: Man Keung Chan, Stephen Chow, Xin Huo and Kan-Cheung Tsang; Starring: Stephen Chow, Chi Chung Lam, Wah Yuen, Qiu Yuen and Siu-Lung Leung, Danny Chan and Eva Huang; Available on DVD. Rating: **** “…for me, kung fu means something   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on April 9, 2015

(2004) Directed by Stephen Chow; Written by: Man Keung Chan, Stephen Chow, Xin Huo and Kan-Cheung Tsang; Starring: Stephen Chow, Chi Chung Lam, Wah Yuen, Qiu Yuen and Siu-Lung Leung, Danny Chan and Eva Huang; Available on DVD. Rating: **** “…for me, kung fu means something   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on April 3, 2015

Much like the fairies in Peter Pan, I only have the capacity for one emotion at a time. Usually, it’s exasperation or some form of self-loathing, built on the premise that no one’s paying attention to my little blog, and I’m simply writing into a void. The notion that I...   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on April 3, 2015

Much like the fairies in Peter Pan, I only have the capacity for one emotion at a time. Usually, it’s exasperation or some form of self-loathing, built on the premise that no one’s paying attention to my little blog, and I’m simply writing into a void. The notion that I...   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on March 21, 2015

2014 was a landmark year for Cinematic Catharsis. I continued to see an increase in visits (not all spam-related, I hope) to my humble little blog, stretched my horizons with new theme months (Monster March, David Lynch Month, etc…), dabbled in hosting my first blogathon, the Goldblumathon, wa   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on March 21, 2015

2014 was a landmark year for Cinematic Catharsis. I continued to see an increase in visits (not all spam-related, I hope) to my humble little blog, stretched my horizons with new theme months (Monster March, David Lynch Month, etc…), dabbled in hosting my first blogathon, the Goldblumathon, wa   read more

Cinematic Catharsis Posted by Barry P. on March 10, 2015

(1924) Directed by: Yakov Protazanov; Written by Aleksei Fajko and Fyodor Otsep; Based on the novel Aelita by Aleksei Tolstoy; Starring: Yuliya Solntseva, Igor Ilyinsky, Nikolai Tsereteli and Valentina Kuindzhi; Available on DVD (from Flicker Alley) and Hulu Streaming Rating: ** ½   read more